


sunrise to sunset

by parkerstorms



Series: Jason Todd Birthday Week 2018 [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, M/M, jason and kyle make the best babysitters, jtbdayweek, me? not writing angst for once? it's more likely than you think
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2018-08-12
Packaged: 2019-06-26 11:08:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15662007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parkerstorms/pseuds/parkerstorms
Summary: In which Jason babysits his neighbor, helps out his aunt, and goes grocery shopping.  Not in that order.Day 4: Slice of Life





	sunrise to sunset

It wasn't uncommon for Jason to wake up well after noon, but he still didn't quite like it.

Did his body need sleep?  Yes. Did he keep odd hours?  Yes. Did that change the fact that waking up past noon made him feel like he was wasting the day?  No.

Despite that, he still didn't want to leave the comfort of his bed either, or abandon the warmth that came from the other person in it.  Though they'd fallen asleep separate from each other, some time during the night they'd ended up in a tangle of limbs, which was how Jason woke.

Kyle had returned last night after being in space for nearly four months, and had promptly passed out the second he was inside and not moved since.  Jason smirked. He leaned over, kissed his idiot on the forehead, then forced himself to get out of bed. He grimaced, his ribs complaining at the shift in positions.  He bruised them the other day. He stumbled to the kitchen, rifling through the cupboards, pulling out the dog food and filling the bowl. He then headed to bathroom, undressing and fumbling with the shower.  The water came out boiling hot, but he didn’t really care. He stayed long enough just to wash his hair.

He got dressed and had a boring breakfast of scrambled eggs.  He thought he felt one of his headaches coming on, and prayed it wasn’t.  He didn’t need that, today of all days. Any day, really. Pain meds and ice packs and caffeine never helped, so if it _was_ a headache, he was screwed.

Jason put his plate in the sink.  The pattering of claws made him look towards the bedroom.  Antigone stood there, blinking sleepily. She kept the same odd hours as her owners.  She whined, flopping down on the floor, a sign that she wanted a walk. Jason smiled. Her bowl of food was empty.  He got the leash out of the drawer. “Alright, baby,” He said to her. “Let’s go.”

Antigone’s head perked up when she saw the leash, already panting and her tail wagging excitedly.  He clipped the leash to her collar, grabbed some bags, and they were out the door.

They walked for a good two blocks.  Jason’s apartment was right near Crime Alley, but only an idiot was going to give a six-foot tall man walking with a large black pit bull trouble.  When they got back to the apartment, it was already almost two. Jason swore. The beginning of his headache had nearly disappeared and now it was back.  He quickly unleashed Antigone, filling up her water bowl, and rushed out the door again, barely remembering his wallet.

He texted Kyle, telling him where he’d gone.  He got to the restaurant half-way across town ten minutes late.  Kate was waiting for him at a table in the corner that allowed a full view of the restaurant and it’s exits.  She gave him an unimpressed look as he sat down, disheveled, eyebrows raised. “I know,” He said, before she could, “I know.  I’m late. I woke up late and-“

“You’re here now,” Kate said dismissively, taking a sip from her coffee.  “Want anything?”

The waiter came by, but Jason declined to get anything.  Kate ordered some fancy kale sandwich while Jason stared at the delicate lace of the table cloth.  When the waiter left, he asked, “How’s Renee?”

“She’s good,” Kate said, tapping the table.  “The department has been busy lately. Some important dignitary is coming to town, and they’re worrying about security details and the like.”

“And you?”

She shrugged.  “The usual. How are you, and - what’s his name, Kyle?”

“I’m good.  We’re good. Kyle just got back from space yesterday.  He’s asleep, right now.”

She gave a small smile at that.  They lapsed into another, comfortable silence as she took another drink from her coffee.  The waiter returned with her sandwich. “So,” She said, putting her cup down with a clink.  “What have you got for me?”

“Word is the Falcone’s are trying to move back in, under Sofia’s son, Vincenzo.  So far, all they’ve done is build some connections and settle in, but they’re starting to agitate some of Penguin’s operations, along with the Odessa’s and the Triad.  Rumor has it Vincenzo will be gunning for the Bertinelli’s and Two-Face next.”

Kate frowned.  “Helena involved yet?”

Jason shook his head.  Man, that was going to be a messy can of worms.  His ghost of a headache was becoming more corporeal.  “Not yet, but I’d get her involved before she starts thinking we’re freezing her out.  Besides, she knows how they work better than we do.”

She nodded thoughtfully, taking a bite from her sandwich.  He continued, “One of my contacts told me that the Falcones are making a move against Bertinelli tonight, down in Burnley.”

She frowned again.  “These seems like something that’s going to turn into a full-out gang war,” She said.

He sighed.  That’s what he’d thought, too, but he’d been hoping Kate would dismiss that concern.  “Yeah,” He muttered. “I figured.”

“Can I ask why you’re passing this off to me?”

“What do you mean?”

“Usually, you don’t ask for help or pass something off until you’re up to your eyeballs in shit, and even then someone would have to twist your arm for you to give up the ghost.”

“I resent that.”  She wasn’t completely wrong, but he still felt indignant about it.

“And-“ Kate added - “I think we both know that out of all of us, you’re the one with the most… _intimate,_ experience of mobs.”

His cheeks flushed and he scowled.  Again, she wasn’t completely wrong. “C’mon, I wasn’t, like, a _real_ crime boss.”

She snorted.  “Right.”

“Anyways,” He said pointedly, “I can’t go out tonight.”

“Okay, next question.  Why me?”

Jason quirked one of his brows.  “Well, you’re basically Batman, minus all of the cons.”

Kate smiled.  “Flattery will get you anywhere.”

She’d finished her sandwich and coffee, then placed a wad of bills on the table.  They stood together and headed outside. Another reason Jason had gone to her, lack of condescension and judgement aside, he knew she wouldn’t ask too many questions.  She didn’t ask why he wasn’t going out tonight, why he already knew so much about the Falcones when no one else did, or even why he’d been late. She knew that if he wanted her to know anything other than what was necessary, he’d offer it.

“Stay out of trouble, okay, kid?” Kate said, putting her hands in her pockets.

He snorted.  “Yeah, right.  You too.”

They parted ways, Jason walking to where he’d parked his car.  It was five past three, which meant he had to get moving. It took him thirty minutes to arrive at the grocery store near his apartment.

He wasn’t entirely sure what to make tonight, he’d figured he’d choose when he got to the store, but now that he was looking at everything on the shelf, he felt a little overwhelmed.  He stared at the frozen meat aisle that seemed to be mocking him. Fine. He didn't need a recipe. He could just make up shit as he went along. The faster he got out of here, the better, honestly.

He grabbed two packs of chicken breasts and dropped them in his cart.  Next, vegetables. He deliberated before grabbing some potatoes and zucchini.  He grabbed some lettuce, too, just because he was pretty sure they were out. He kept walking.  His phone buzzed.

 

**From: cass (3:40pm)**

hey when r u free for lunch?

**To: cass (3:41pm)**

Does Thursday at 1 work?

**From: cass (3:41pm)**

yep!!

 

Jason put his phone in his pocket and kept walking.  He grabbed some shredded cheese, garlic, onions, broccoli, some mushroom broth.  He was honestly just throwing shit at the wall at this point. Green beans. He needed green beans.  And regular beans, too. Were they out of bell peppers…? He got some anyways. He might as well get ice cream too, knowing how this day was going to go.

He stood in the checkout line, trying (and failing) to will away his headache.  In a few hours, it’d be unbearable, and that couldn’t happen.

The girl behind the register - Anna, according to her name tag - smiled warmly as he stepped forward.  “Hello,” She said. “How are you?”

“Good.  You?”

Her smile became a little more genuine.  “I’m good, thank you.”

As she started ringing him up, she asked, “Making something good?”

“Hopefully,” Jason said, meaning it.  “I’m just kind of messing around, seeing what happens.”

“All masterpieces start out as mistakes in one way or another,” Anna joked.

He smirked.  She rattled off his total, and he paid.  “Have a good day,” She said.

“You too.”

He finally got home, his headache starting to kick up it’s pace.  It took everything in him not to slam the door shut. Well, not actually everything, but pretty damn close.  Painkillers didn’t work, of course, but an instinctual part of him still wanted to try. He blamed Bruce for that, honestly.

Antigone greeted him at the door, wagging her tail happily.  Jason scratched her on the head before moving further into the apartment, placing the grocery bags on the counter.  Now it was nearly four-thirty. He still had just over half an hour. He put away all the groceries, and was out the door again, heading towards the other end of Park Row.

The fresh air did wonders on his headache.

When he got to the apartment complex, Izzy was sitting outside on the steps with Mrs. Garcia.  Izzy perked up when she saw him, grinning, revealing her two front teeth that were missing. “Jay!” She shouted.

She bounded up to him, backpack bouncing up and down in time with her pigtails, and tackle-hugged him, knocking wind out of him.  He patted her head, chuckling. “Hey, kid,” He said, then looked at Mrs. Garcia. “Thanks for watching her, Mrs. G.”

Mrs. Garcia waved her hand.  “Of course,” She said. “Isabella is a delight to have around.  I’ll see you both next week.” She turned and headed towards the apartment building door.

“Bye, Mrs. Garcia!” Izzy called, waving enthusiastically.

When Mrs. Garcia was gone, Izzy’s undivided attention fell onto Jason.  “Hey!” She said. “Can we get ice cream?”

She grabbed his hand as they started walking down the street.  “After dinner,” He said. “I've got ice cream at home.”

Izzy pouted.  “You say that every time,” She said.  “And Mom gets annoyed.”

“She won’t this time,” Jason reassured.  The kid was still looking at him skeptically, so he said, “How was school?”

That did the trick.  She launched into the tale of her day, starting with what she had for breakfast, from Tyler P. flirting with Lena S. which made Lena M. and Sydney H. jealous, to Ronnie in her after-school program being mean again, to what she did at Mrs. Garcia’s.  She was a very energetic 12-year-old, and she often made Jason concerned about Damian’s developmental progress. She was a glaring example of what he was lacking in the 12-year-old social department. Or so Jason thought.

One would think her chattiness would make Jason’s headache worse, but by the time they finished the half hour walk back to their building, it was back to just a dulled pain.

They made it up to their floor, Izzy still talking about Mrs. Garcia.  He listened intently. As they continued to walk, getting closer, the door they were headed to popped open.  Caroline stuck her head out, smiling.

“I thought I heard you two,” She said.  “You're a little early.”

“Is that okay?” Jason asked, already planning around it in his head.

“Of course,” Caroline replied.  “C’mon in, Izzy. We’ve got some math to kick in the butt.”

“I’ll see you later, okay, Izzy?” Jason said, but she just raced inside Caroline’s apartment.  Caroline and Jason exchanged bemused looks.

She shut the door and he went to his own apartment.  He headed to the kitchen. He grabbed the chicken, potatoes, zucchini, broccoli, onions, garlic, rice, and peppers.  He washed his hands, washing the vegetables that need it, and washed the rice, then set it to cook. He cut the chicken into cubes, put it aside, then cut the zucchini, potatoes, and peppers into smaller cubes.  The onions were sliced and chopped. The broccoli he separated into smaller pieces. Washing his hands again, he then grabbed a large frying pan, poured a fair amount of olive oil into it, and let it heat up.

He put the potato in first, then the chicken, waiting for both to cook completely before adding the zucchini and onions.  Next was the peppers and broccoli. Then finally the garlic. It was up in the air if any of this would actually taste good together, but not knowing was part of the fun.  Or so Jason had been told.

He felt Kyle’s presence before hearing or seeing it.  There was no specific thing that gave it away, just the knowing feeling that he was no longer alone that came from years of training and years of living alone.  Jason continued to stir, even as Kyle's arms wrapped around his waist and Kyle's chin rested on his shoulder.

“Whatchya making?” Kyle asked, yawning.

“Some stir fry bullshit,” Jason said.  “I’m not really sure yet.”

Kyle just hummed.  Jason stopped stirring, letting the food settle.  He leaned into the embrace. They swayed back and forth ever so slightly.  The warmth felt good, in a way he hadn't known for nearly four months.

“How long was I out?” Kyle asked, yawning again.

“What time is it?”

“Uhh… six.”

“About fifteen hours.”

“…Oh.”

Jason couldn't help but snort at how sheepish Kyle sounded.  He continued to stir, then put the stir fry on a low heat. “You needed the sleep,” He said.  He gently pried himself from the embrace to drain the rice.

Kyle hopped on the counter, watching.  “I don't think I needed it that bad-” He cut himself off with yet another yawn.  Jason gave him a look. “…Fuck off.”

Jason just snorted again.  He added the rice to the stir fry.  “Do me a favor,” He said, “And get the cheese out of the fridge.  The shredded-” The bag was waved in front of his face - “Thanks.”

He turned the heat up, sprinkled a handful of cheese over his concoction, stirred, and added more.  Then he held up the spatula to Kyle's mouth. “Taste.”

Kyle took a bite and immediately told him, “Needs seasoning.”

“Yeah,” Jason agreed, wondering what spices would go with potatoes, zucchini, and bell peppers.  “Can you get me the parsley and cilantro?” Kyle complied. “And the chili flakes and paprika?”

Jason added all of those into the frying pan, with some more cheese, and had Kyle try it again.  He nodded. “Good,” He said. “Kind of weird, but good.”

“Nice.”

He was about to take it off the heat when there was a knock on the door.  Antigone started barking, a loud and threatening sound even to Jason. “I got it,” Kyle said, wandering off.  He was still in his sweatpants and sleepshirt, but that was the way the cookie crumbled sometimes.

Judging from Izzy’s excited greeting, she didn't seem to mind.

She bounded into the kitchen, following by Antigone, and more slowly by Kyle, just as Jason finished serving up three plates of his Frankenstein’s monster of a stir fry.

They ended up eating on the couch.  Izzy insisted on watching _a_ movie.

(“What movie?” Kyle asked.

“Any!” She said.)

They ended up watching The Land Before Time, which was as depressing as Jason remembered.  It was equally refreshing and startling to have a full apartment again. It was just Kyle, back from space, but to Jason, it might as well have been three more people.  After the movie, they cleaned up, and Izzy begged for some ice cream.

(“You just had a huge dinner,” Kyle said incredulously.  “And you had seconds. How are you still hungry?”

“Kid’s got a hollow leg,” Jason said.)

Then, armed with bowls of ice cream, they watched another movie, this one Kiki’s Delivery Service.  By the last thirty minutes, Izzy was passed out, tangled in between Jason and Kyle along with Antigone, and Kyle was starting to nod off, too, despite having slept for fifteen hours and only being awake for three.

Just as the credits began to roll, there was another knock on the door, soft and rapid.  Only one person it could be, really.

Jason slowly and gently removed himself from the entanglement on the couch, and walked over to open the door.  Expectantly, Tanya stood there, still wearing her waitress outfit. “Hey, Jay,” She said.

“Hey, Tanya,” He stepped aside to let her in.  “Izzy’s asleep on the couch.”

Tanya smiled wryly.  She said, “You know, you guys are the only ones that can get her to conk out.  How do you do it?”

“We feed her a bunch of sugar and wait for her to crash.”

Tanya snorted.  “Course.”

She started to walk towards the direction of the living room, Jason stopped her.  “Wait one second.” He ducked into the kitchen to grab the tupperware filled with the leftovers of the stir fry.  He returned and held it out for her. “Izzy liked it, and I thought you might, too.”

Tanya stared at the container like it was the keys to a new Bugatti.  “Jay,” She said, voice shaking a little, “I can't-”

“Sure you can,” He replied breezily.  “You never have time to cook for yourself.  It's the least I could do. You can keep the container, too.  I've got plenty.”

She turned her awestruck gaze onto him, and he shifted uncomfortably under it.  “What would I do without you?” She said, shaking her head. “You look after Izzy all the time, and now this-”

“It's not anything, really,” He insisted.

Tanya took the tupperware, hands shaking and eyes wet.  “You're a saint,” She told him, putting the container in her purse.

He bit back a grimace.  If she really knew him, she wouldn't be so quick to praise him.  She continued, “Seriously. If it weren't for your boyfriend, I’d jump on you in a second.”

Jason couldn't help but laugh.  They walked into the living room, where Kyle was already nudging Izzy awake.  She yawned, rubbing her eyes sleepily, but perked up when she saw Tanya. “Oh!  Hey, Mom.” She smiled. Tanya smiled back.

“Hey, sweetheart.  You didn't cause too much trouble, right?”

“Who, me?  Never.”

Tanya and Izzy left, Tanya still thanking them more than was necessary, while Jason insisted, really, it wasn't a problem at all.

Jason washed the dishes, passing them to Kyle, who dried them.

“I forgot to ask,” Jason said, “how was space?”

Kyle shrugged.  “The usual. Big.  Dark. Cold.”

“So… Gotham, basically?”

Kyle snorted.  They lapsed into a comfortable silence.  Jason let his mind wander to his family. They were the best detectives in the world, yet they hadn't seemed to notice that every Friday, he skipped patrol.  Either that, or they noticed and didn't give a shit one way or another. It really was fifty-fifty, because as smart as they all were, they really could be morons.

As he was drying the last plate, Kyle said, “Okay, I’m gonna be honest.  I kind of forgot about Fridays with Izzy.”

Jason laughed.  “What?”

“It was four months, alright?  You forget things when you're trying to stop an intergalactic war.”

“That's what took four months?  Didn't you have an entire Corps with you?”

“Well, no, seeing as I’m not technically part of a Corps anymore.  It took Hal, Guy, and John a month themselves to even be able to help me out.  The GL Corps took that much longer.”

Jason shook his head.  “That intergalactic peace-keeping system is so flawed.”

“Yeah, tell me about it.”  Kyle was now much closer than he had been before.  Jason’s skin tingled. “It’s weird, you know - I keep sending letters about how to fix it, but no one seems to get them.”

Jason snorted.  “You're stupid,” He said fondly, and kissed him.

Later, as they lay in bed in a tangle of limbs, sweaty and exhausted, Jason realized his headache was entirely gone.  Huh. How about that.

He was dozing when Kyle gently nudged him.  “Hey,” Kyle mumbled.

“Hm?”

“I love you.”

Jason chuckled softly.  “I love you too.”


End file.
